Ethiopia Journals

ETHIOPIA JOURNALS

Being back in Korah for day two was great because we got to see all the little kids we met yesterday again. What was not so great was learning how these families truly lived in this village. For the first half of the day we visited families' homes in Korah and went inside to see their home conditions. The houses were made of metal sheets, tarp, cloth, and string at most, and we could only fit a few people in at a time. We listen to the mothers speak about their lives, their child clinging to their leg. With heartache in their eyes, most explained how they are living with a disability, usually leprosy, and how their husbands left them because of this. Many of the mothers said they send their son off to the trash dumb everyday to search for food while they go to the streets and beg for money.

A young boy name Bira explained life like this as "a life where you do not think about next week or next month, the only thing you think about is will I survive today. Because you don't know if there will be a tomorrow."

When we are at home, safe in our houses in America, we only see these types of things from the outside; TV commercials, newspapers, articles, etc. But when you're there, and you're inside it, there are no words to explain how much it will make you open your eyes to how people are really living in the rest of the world. This type of eye opening experience is driving me more than I ever thought it would to make a difference in these kids' lives.

The second half of the day was spent at an orphanage across town. This orphanage was a mix of boys and girls, young and old that were so excited to see us. When we got there, most of the group handed out toys and candy to the little kids.

On the left though there was a group of about 10 teenage boys just overlooking everything that was going on. Jordan and I made our way over and started talking to a boy wearing a Real Madrid jersey. They talked about how they have a field at the orphanage this will be finished soon thanks to Mark and Chris, two amazing people from our group. When we grabbed a soccer ball and started a juggling circle, the boys started to smile. What was amazing about these next few minutes was that even though we did not speak the same language as them, we communicated effortlessly through the game. We learned that some of these boys had untapped potential. One boy lead the group in perfect harmony. It was easy to tell that he was a leader. His motions with the ball and his understanding of the game displayed his intelligence and when he spoke he used big english words that were complicated to others. It was easy to tell that this boy was special and it broke our hearts that he could be anything he wanted to be in this world, but didn't have the resources to get there. This one boy has influenced us to work harder to make Cleats Count an organization that provides opportunity to anyone who wants it.